And You Haunt Me
by potatopeeler
Summary: Set of fifty sentences that act as a glimpse into the relationship of Bartimaeus and his most beloved master. Bartimaeus/Ptolemy friendship and romance.
1. And You Haunt Me

Disclaimer: Don't own! Title taken from a Union Sound Set song.

Note: This was written for/in the format of the 1sentence community on Livejournal (google it if you're interested). I haven't decided whether I'll do the other sets of prompts, but if I do, they'll be added here as new chapters. As always, constructive criticism is appreciated!

Bit of a warning: sentences 12, 14, 24, and 41 are a bit sexual, so don't read those if that sort of thing bothers you. (They're not very graphic and rating guidelines are vague, so let me know if you think this should be M and it will be changed.) And, er, obviously this contains slash (but really, that shouldn't need a warning), though the vast majority of these can be read as friendship.

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01 - Comfort

Ptolemy didn't need to ask his servant for much as Bartimaeus took it upon himself to see to that he was comfortable no matter what he was doing, even if it involved an embarrassing but voluntary transformation into a pillow (literally, more than a few times).

02 - Kiss

The first time Ptolemy kissed him, it was behind a shelf of papyri in the shadows of the Library and Bartimaeus distinctly remembered the boy's almost deviously calm smile as he struggled to contain his very verbose outburst while scholars muttered to themselves on the other side of the wall of scrolls.

03 - Soft

When Ptolemy inspected the djinni's guise in preparation for a royal gathering he wished not to attend, he was almost surprised at how Bartimaeus managed to copy the exact level of softness of his hair.

04 - Pain

Unlike with his previous masters, their relationship wasn't reinforced with pain; on the contrary, Ptolemy tried his best to keep Bartimaeus from feeling any besides the ache of slavery, and it was this that first earned him the djinni's respect.

05 - Potatoes

The only response he got to his (rather witty and imaginative, if you asked him) tirade that ended in an idiom involving potatoes was a confused stare from the boy that lead to a ten minute onslaught of questions regarding what was quite possibly one of the most bland vegetables in existence.

06 - Rain

It didn't rain much in Alexandria (at least not compared to some of the other places he had been lucky enough to be enslaved in), so he found great amusement in the sight of Ptolemy soaked to the bone and pretending not to sulk at his laughter during the few times he was caught in the rain on a walk back from the Library with precious scrolls in his arms.

07 - Chocolate

He hated to sound cliché (really, he did), but he rather admired the richness of the boy's skin, especially compared to that of his pasty family.

08 - Happiness

Bartimaeus' time with Ptolemy was the only time he could remember feeling genuinely happy, and that was including the times he was able to maim and/or devour his more imbecilic masters.

09 - Telephone

Once, one of Ptolemy's imps spied the two kissing and word spread like wildfire throughout the ranks of his servants, with the issue coming to Ptolemy's attention when he overheard two of his djinn talking about why he would have sex with a spirit as vile as Bartimaeus; soon after, any of his servants involved in the matter were instantly dismissed.

10 - Ears

Whenever Bartimaeus would grow bored with watching Ptolemy read scroll after scroll in the quiet Library, he would change into a fly and crawl around Ptolemy's ear, whispering his best jokes in an attempt to get the boy to laugh that was met with varied success.

11 - Name

Despite Ptolemy's indifference to names, he took care not to call Bartimaeus by his true one; it was an effort that Bartimaeus took great pleasure in when it failed.

12 - Sensual

At first, Bartimaeus resisted his urge to corrupt the boy (not because of his age, but out of respect for his master), but as time went by, his foreplay grew closer and closer to deflowering.

13 - Death

Though he tried his best to respond calmly to any threat of assassination, some of the more violent and closely avoided attempts left the boy shaking with a mixture of adrenaline and fear in Bartimaeus' company.

14 - Sex

Ptolemy was oddly composed when they usually made love, his breathing deep and quick but regular and eyes lidded almost regally as they rubbed together until the boy reached his peak, fingers clutching at either Bartimaeus' back or the thin sheets beneath them, letting out only a single short cry; however, when Bartimaeus was allowed to enter him (this was rare, as Ptolemy found it undignified), he used his ability to shape shift to drive the boy wild, writhing upon his bed with his face flushed, mouth whining, and hair tousled.

15 - Touch

Bartimaeus didn't particularly like being touched by humans (in fact, it usually nauseated him), but as in every other aspect, Ptolemy was an exception.

16 - Weakness

Normally, Bartimaeus could stay cool, calm, and collected any day of the week, even in mortal peril, but all the spirits under Ptolemy's command knew that the boy was his one weakness (well, him and an opportunity for a good joke, but who could resist that?).

17 - Tears

After a particularly close call with an assassin, the only reason Bartimaeus didn't hunt down that damn cousin and tear him limb from flabby limb and use his bones for an artfully crude sculpture was because Ptolemy, shaken and near tears, asked him not to.

18 - Speed

Ptolemy was very appreciative of his servant's abilities, especially on the few occasions he fumbled and ended up with half a shelf of papyri falling toward him with only Bartimaeus' otherworldly speed to save him from the Library's occupants' glares and scolding.

19 - Wind

On especially quiet nights, Bartimaeus would lead the boy out of Alexandria and into the unpopulated lands beyond the busy city to transform into a very large (and awe-inspiring) eagle and let the boy feel the night wind rip through his hair.

20 - Freedom

It wasn't _really_ freedom, but it was the closest thing to it that he experienced outside the Other Place, and for that he was grateful.

21 - Life

Many would agree that as a scholar, the boy didn't have the most exciting life (occasional assassination attempts excluded), but he seemed to find his research invigorating.

22 - Jealousy

Not many of Ptolemy's female cousins had any interest in him what with his complete apathy toward his royal blood, so when one of them tried flirting with the boy at a small gathering, it took Bartimaeus longer than he would like to admit to get over his shock to scare her off (Ptolemy was too naive to realize just why Bartimaeus had been so rude toward the rather nice girl).

23 - Hands

Bartimaeus could spend hours watching his master's hands alternate between scratching notes onto scrolls of papyri and smoothing out his current reading with a soft glide of his fingers; very often, that was exactly what he did.

24 - Taste

If it were any other human, Bartimaeus would rather insult a gang of marids - naked and blowing raspberries - than even think about it, but because it was Ptolemy, he had to admit to himself that he actually enjoyed (just a little bit) the taste of the boy's slick thighs in the summer heat.

25 - Devotion

Bartimaeus finally realized just how hopelessly devoted he was to his master when he knew he would rather die in a last-ditch attempt to save him than allow him to die alone and at peace.

26 - Forever

No matter how many centuries or millennia passed, he could never stop wondering exactly how those demons (anything that would harm Ptolemy deserved to be called that disgusting word) killed the boy; illogically, he hoped the poor boy's heart gave out at the sight of forty djinni rushing at him at once before they could even reach him with their claws and fangs and hatred of magicians.

27 - Blood

When Ptolemy got a nosebleed during a particularly arid week of weather and the blood dripped and ruined one of the scrolls he was reading at the Library, he was very concerned until Bartimaeus, always offering a helping hand, set it aflame to cover up his master's mistake; then he panicked.

28 - Sickness

Normally, Bartimaeus found great fun in his masters' illnesses; he'd laugh and make jokes the entire day, maybe even take their form and mock their tired actions; but when Ptolemy fell ill, he was the paragon of a worried and caring servant (okay okay, he _may_ have made a few _mild_ jokes, but hey, they seemed to make Ptolemy feel better).

29 - Melody

He usually enjoyed music, except when it involved his servant and some artful arrangement of bodily noises composed in boredom.

30 - Star

Ptolemy once asked him how he thought the world would end, to which Bartimaeus responded, "Oh, some star will probably implode and engulf the entire planet, but don't worry, I'm sure I'll survive so long as I'm not stuck with some pathetic nitwit of a master."

31 - Home

He wasn't going to say something as ridiculous as "wherever Ptolemy is feels like home," (absolutely not; it was just an example) but he would grudgingly admit that he didn't miss the Other Place quite as much as he did in his other masters' employment.

32 - Confusion

To avoid further confusion following Bartimaeus' egotistical rants, Ptolemy requested of him, "Dear Rekhyt, tell me of your adventures."

33 - Fear

For some bizarre reason that Bartimaeus could never really figure out, Ptolemy didn't fear the djinn, to which he had given nearly free reign, betraying and destroying him.

34 - Lightning/Thunder

Bartimaeus once jokingly told Ptolemy that lightning was a creation of some of the more powerful marids; the boy, now that Bartimaeus had been giving out credible information on the Other Place, believed him.

35 - Bonds

He told Kitty that it was because Ptolemy had been willing to travel to the Other Place that their bond was limitless; to be honest, he would have done anything the boy asked even before his journey.

36 - Market

On rainy days, to cheer up the boy who was confined to his room, sulking and refining his old notes, Bartimaeus would fly to the market of Alexandria and bring back an assortment of newly imported spices and oils to liven up the place a bit.

37 - Technology

Ptolemy definitely had the brains to be a scientist, Bartimaeus reflected, but his drawing skills were absolutely dreadful.

38 - Gift

His master's last gift to him was a life without him, and Bartimaeus sometimes thought that was a pretty crappy gift.

39 - Smile

Whenever he was in a bad mood (which wasn't very often back then, mind you), Ptolemy would try his hardest to make him smile, and somehow, it usually worked.

40 - Innocence

Despite the boy's amount of knowledge, he was still fairly innocent -at least until Bartimaeus got to him.

41 - Completion

As a djinni, Bartimaeus didn't have the ability to orgasm (sex felt like a very nice belly rub, except hotter and sweatier (not on his part, of course - ew) and with substantially less leg spasms), but he found the experience of being so intimate with Ptolemy just as thrilling (and it's not like he _wanted_ that nasty, sticky stuff oozing out of him anyway).

42 - Clouds

Bartimaeus very much enjoyed the days when Ptolemy would forsake the Library and stay home, reclining on overstuffed pillows with him and reflecting on the world.

43 - Sky

"Remember, Ptolemy - and pay attention, because this is the most valuable information I'm ever going to give you - _never_ spit into the wind - hey, don't laugh, you wouldn't imagine how embarrassing this can be!"

44 - Heaven

Bartimaeus fell into a fit of laughter when Ptolemy first mentioned the afterlife to him.

45 - Hell

And when he saw the look on the boy's face (it wasn't that it was angry - it was that it _wasn't_; it was the look that terrified Ptolemy's "superiors"), he felt like a jerk.

46 - Sun

"You're as bright as the sun," Bartimaeus told him once, and he wasn't sure in which way he meant it.

47 - Moon

"And you, dear Rekhyt, are as dim as the moon," he had replied with a smile, and Bartimaeus wasn't sure in which way _he_ had meant it.

48 - Waves

Throughout the day, a sudden fear would wash over him at the idea that an assassin could be behind any door, at any moment, waiting to kill Ptolemy, and he would drive away that fear with a strengthening of his resolve to protect him.

49 - Hair

Ptolemy had a tendency to scent his hair with perfumes or spices from the market because he enjoyed the exotic aromas; it was a game of theirs to have Bartimaeus guess the scent he had chosen that day.

50 - Supernova

As lame and as sappy as it sounded, the boy was truly akin to a supernova; even now, over two thousand years later, he was still reeling from the experience of his two years of knowing Ptolemy.


	2. With Sweet Hope

Disclaimer: Don't own, etc. Chapter title taken from the song _Sahara Mahala_ by The Jezabels, mostly because they were all I listened to while writing this.

Note: I meant to have this done a whiiiiile ago, but life got in the way and you know how that goes. Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter! This was started with the intention of having it all be from Ptolemy's perspective, but I got really zen writing that way (very bizarre) and settled with alternating every ten sentences. As always, criticism is very much appreciated!

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01 - Walking

Despite the threat of assassination, despite his vague charge, and despite the djinni's knowledge of his birth name, Ptolemy felt completely safe walking the streets of Alexandria with Rekhyt by his side.

02 - Waltz

When he asked Rekhyt to demonstrate a dance for him, he hadn't been expecting something _quite_ so vulgar (though, really, at this point, he supposed he should have been), and he had to avert his eyes.

03 - Wishes

Ptolemy's greatest wish wasn't for his name to be known for millennia, but to help others understand what he did about spirits - they were not things to be despised or feared, but beings to be respected and befriended - and so help to free Rekhyt and the others from their lifetime of slavery.

04 - Wonder

Rekhyt had a habit of taking beautiful guises, and many times, Ptolemy had to pause and marvel at the attention to detail.

05 - Worry

He knew Rekhyt worried about him and he also knew this was why his first response to the djinni's fretting was to smile.

06 - Whimsy

Ptolemy's good-natured patience was the perfect counterbalance to Rekhyt's capricious humor that allowed the two to get along better than Rekhyt had with his previous masters (or anyone else, for that matter).

07 - Waste/Wasteland

The boy very much wished to visit one day the ruins of ancient cities; with a shrug and a warning that they'd probably be boring and filled with nothing more than the reanimated dead ("-and a completely unnecessary number of trip threads, I mean _really_, how valuable could their old pottery possibly be?"), Rekhyt promised to accompany him.

08 - Whiskey and rum

Ptolemy wasn't a wine enthusiast by any means - the idea of his cousin turned him off from the very smell of most wines - but it didn't take many cups of the drink for him to get drunk, and at that point, Rekhyt knew very well to take him back to his room, because Ptolemy was a particularly friendly drunk ("-if by 'friendly,' you mean 'horny,'" Rekhyt had smirked one morning after Ptolemy's embarrassed apology).

09 - War

He had to admit, the work he completed in the time Rekhyt was off doing his bidding would have taken half the amount of days had he not been so distracted by how much he missed the djinni.

10 - Weddings

Every marriage of a Ptolemy to a Cleopatra was more boring than the last, so Ptolemy succumbed to the temptation of the copiously offered wine, at the very least guaranteeing himself an interesting night with Rekhyt.

11 - Birthday

Neither Ptolemy nor Bartimaeus thought birthdays much important; Bartimaeus had experienced about a thousand of his own (the other couple thousand were spent blissfully unaware in the Other Place) and Ptolemy just didn't seem to care.

12 - Blessing

He supposed he should be grateful his current master didn't use punishments (his humor and wit was generally rewarded, rather ungratefully in his opinion, with daily abuse by the vast majority of his enslavers), but he was too busy appreciating how different a magician Ptolemy was in every other way.

13 - Bias

Bartimaeus always thought it was jealousy of his winning personality and awesome power that made other spirits hate him; actually, after two thousand years, many had become suspicious of his preferred guise, especially with that one blabbing former imp of Ptolemy's that he and Faquarl had run into fifteen hundred years ago.

14 - Burning

Bartimaeus hated how he burned with shame sometimes when he upset Ptolemy (no, he did not just stoop so low as to use a cliché; as a being of fire and air, he did sometimes _literally_ burn, even if it was a rather impish habit).

15 - Breathing

At night, when the boy slept, Bartimaeus would often abandon his post at the window and, as a cat, would curl up against his master's abdomen and let himself relax to the rhythm of his breathing.

16 - Breaking

And in the morning, he would break that rhythm as he smothered the unsuspecting boy's face with his furry stomach.

17 - Belief

Eight hundred years in the past, anyone who might have suggested it would have received a Detonation to the face (even two years ago, the reaction would have been the same), but now he had to conclude that somehow, he had come to love his master.

18 - Balloon

Sometimes, looking at Ptolemy, he would get a peculiar feeling in his stomach, not unlike the tug of a Dismissal; the emotion that accompanied it was similar as well.

19 - Balcony

On lazy days, Ptolemy would spend his time gazing out the large window of his bedroom as Bartimaeus, in cat form, would pretend to nap in the sun on the sill.

20 - Bane

Bartimaeus would frequently ignore the incessant ache of slavery just to spend a bit more time with him.

21 - Quiet

It was rare for Rekhyt to stay quiet for long, and after a while, he began to enjoy the constant chatter, even in the near silent Library.

22 - Quirks

Ptolemy often found Rekhyt's many quirks endearing, so he was shocked and dismayed to hear that he had a long history of being punished for them.

23 - Question

When Rekhyt asked him questions obviously meant to disconcert or offend him, he simply gave him a knowing smile and an honest answer.

24 - Quarrel

They had quarreled countless times (often when Rekhyt would grow tired of his probing questions), but the frustration never lasted past the moment.

25 - Quitting

Rekhyt would try to discourage him from working toward peace between spirits and humans, but he refused to quit, not when he had accomplished it between the two of them.

26 - Jump

Even after so many summonses, his heart would still jump at the first sight of Rekhyt in the opposite pentacle after an almost unbearable number of days.

27 - Jester

He knew very well that for the first year of their friendship, the djinni had been telling him only lies; Ptolemy kept summoning him because he was incredibly amusing to talk with.

28 - Jousting

Rekhyt liked to think up ridiculous names for what they did sometimes at night in Ptolemy's bed; usually, he would shake his head and try to hold back a smile (usually, he succeeded).

29 - Jewel

Ptolemy had no interest in expensive jewelry or accessories, but Rekhyt always stole some for him anyway.

30 - Just

He tried to ignore the feeling that came with knowing that the only reason Rekhyt was next to him was because he had enslaved him.

31 - Smirk

Ptolemy never smirked; he simply looked at him with eyes shining in amusement when he inevitably made a fool of himself.

32 - Sorrow

He masked his sorrow at the loss of the boy with nonchalance and lies, but he displayed it in his form.

33 - Stupidity

He realized the boy wasn't as stupid as he had thought when Ptolemy told him with a gentle smile, "Dear Rekhyt, I know you love me."

34 - Serenade

Once, he had the bright idea of serenading the boy from outside his window in the guise of a drunken peasant; he had no idea why the only response he got was Ptolemy bursting into laughter sporadically for the rest of the night.

35 - Sarcasm

Well, okay, he _supposed_ it could be because of all the theatrical warbling or that the lyrics included references to his "hair like jackal's fur," "skin as soft as a fresh mummy's wrappings," or the very romantic "questioning habits of an insistent and spoiled toddler."

36 - Sordid

After his rather long and impressive list of sordid and disgusting masters, to say Ptolemy was a breath of fresh air was an understatement.

37 - Soliloquy

With Ptolemy always studying, it often felt like Bartimaeus was talking to himself (not that that was a _bad_ thing; he was quite a good conversationalist).

38 - Sojourn

Ptolemy often fantasized of seeing the world beyond Alexandria and Egypt; it was a pity Bartimaeus never got to share it with him.

39 - Share

Sometimes, Bartimaeus wanted to share the truth of the world with the boy, but he couldn't bring himself to shatter his idealism (he settled with a weak attempt at convincing him).

40 - Solitary

Occasionally, when they were alone and talking, they would get so caught up in their conversations and each other that Ptolemy would forget to eat until, upon retiring for the night, he heard his stomach rumble.

41 - Nowhere

The main reason he was so eager to travel to the Other Place was pure curiosity; a less important reason, but still a very thrilling thought, was that he would get to see Rekhyt as he truly was.

42 - Neutral

Many of the other spirits thought Rekhyt a traitor; Ptolemy admired how he shrugged off the hostility (though perhaps that wasn't the best way to describe how Rekhyt mocked and belittled them).

43 - Nuance

Somehow, over time, Rekhyt had learned to distinguish between the nuances of his behavior to determine his mood; however, it was rare that Rekhyt used this knowledge to respond with anything other than his usual jokes and banter.

44 - Near

One of the things that had first clued him in to Rekhyt's feelings was his tendency to sit much closer to him than any of his other servants even thought about; once in a while, he'd even sit _on_ him.

45 - Natural

He was pretty sure it wasn't natural to feel this way about a djinni, at least according to his research, but it _was_ his goal to be groundbreaking, after all.

46 - Horizon

When he would send Rekhyt off to fill a charge particularly far away, he would sit by the window when he departed, dark eyes fixed upon the horizon even after the blur of his avian form disappeared into the desert.

47 - Valiant

He had known Rekhyt wasn't the most valiant of djinn (next to his name in the registries had been descriptions of his more outrageous escapes), but somehow Ptolemy wasn't surprised when he had protested his final dismissal, only honored.

48 - Virtuous

Despite his nature, Rekhyt had only destroyed his virtue in one sense of the word.

49 - Victory

On the rare occasions he left Rekhyt speechless, he was left feeling oddly triumphant.

50 - Defeat

With this logic, then, he should have felt defeated when all he accomplished was inspiring him to go on yet another of his rants, but truthfully, he greatly enjoyed listening to the djinni.


End file.
